Shelley Duncan chatted about the Yankees' recent success earlier this week with his brother, Chris -- an outfielder with the Cardinals, of course -- and Shelley mentioned that perhaps Chris would get a chance to see New York in the playoffs. And Chris replied that hey, the way things are going, the Cardinals could be in the playoffs, too.
He's right, incredibly. The Cardinals got six innings out of their only returning starting pitcher,
Chris Carpenter, before he went down with an injury; have had a myriad of off-field problems, including the death of reliever
Josh Hancock; have endured constant injury problems among their everyday players. Now they're 2½ games out of first place, and with their postseason experience, they will be a dangerous force in a race against the Cubs, who are performing under enormous pressure, and the inexperienced Brewers.
But the whole league is seemingly shaped in this way. Each of the National League contenders has a major flaw that could take it down, and yet, you could map a way that 10 different NL teams could make the World Series, with a few key developments.
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Buster Olney
